The Daily Gopher Fix 8.22.08

The one that got away.

While Tim Brewster has been duly lauded for bringing Minnesota its best recruiting class in, well, maybe ever, it easily could have been much better. The biggest fish that escaped Brewster's grip was Cretin Derham Hall wide receiver Michael Floyd. Now in the boosomly clutches of Charlie Weis at Notre Dame, Floyd is meeting the lofty expectations college scouts had for him.

From Irish Insights, a blog from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:

Michael Floyd doesn't look like a freshman in any way -- in physique or in skill level. So when Floyd receives praise from both the head coach and sophomore quarterback, it isn't shocking. And it'd be more of a surprise if Floyd isn't on the field playing major minutes this fall.

"The feedback on Michael Floyd from Jimmy has been through the roof. It's been very, very, very good, very, very, very positive," Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis said. "You know, look at him physically, he doesn't, once again, I don't know but when you see him out there in practice, he doesn't look like a freshman. He looks like an upperclassman that's been around a long time. You look at him and say that's what I'm talking about."

Floyd was Minnesota's marquee recruit in 2008 and was easily a top 10 receiver in the nation. He was exactly the kind of recruit Brewster needed. Being an in-state kid, Brewster would have proven he could keep the local studs home. And with the Gophers in dire need of an infusion of talent at wide receiver, Floyd would have done wonders to address that need.

Brewster made inroads on the latter category anyway, but Floyd would have easily been the biggest catch.

• Described by Marcus Fuller of the PiPress as the biggest shakeup of summer camp, junior Lee Campbell is moving from defensive end to starting middle linebacker. This means your starting linebackers will be Campbell in the middle, Simoni Lawrence and either now displaced middle linebacker Deon Hightower or senior Steve Davis.
• Ben Kuznia's stock is rising.
• The Daily Iowan calls the Gophers football team the "groundfish of the conference." Whatever that means.
• The Detroit Free Press profiles the Gophers and quotes Adam Weber as stating learning the spread last year was tantamount to learning to speak Japanese.
• The ACC Football Report questions North Carolina's hiring of former Minnesota defensive coordinator Everett Withers:

That said, the first potential kink in Davis' construction project appears to be his whiskey-tango-foxtrot hire of Everett Withers as defensive coordinator, replacing last year's DC Chuck Pagano who bolted for the Baltimore Ravens this offseason. That's the Everett Withers who was Minnesota's DC last year. The Minnesota that ranked 119th in total defense. Yes, there's more to the Withers/Minnesota story than simple stats (the Tim Brewster hire was a debacle, and Withers had a nice six year run as DB coach with the Tennessee Titans prior), but jeez-a-loo this is a massive leap of faith on Davis' part.

• Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports predicts the Gophers will finish 11th in the Big Ten and suggests that the school administration will be counting its pennies in anticipation of a buyout of Brewster's contract by year's end (CORRECTION: Dodd wrote by the end of '09).
• The Coaches Hot Seat predicts the Gophers go 2-10 this season and Brewster coaches for his job in 2009.
• Buckeye Battle Cry has a message for the USC Trojans football team and their fans: "If you're a fan of USC, and you're reading this blog, please tell your favorite team to stop rolling around with other half-naked men. It's just making all of us snicker." Not that there is anything wrong with rolling around with half-naked men, right?